Generation After Life
by Kat721
Summary: *The extra, more detailed, ending for After Life*. Find out Why Prince and Gui no longer play second Life, and go on a journey with their 16 year old daughter ,Bao Yu, who has broken the rules. What kind of trouble will Odd Squad get itself into now?
1. Chapters 1 & 2

**Disclaimer: You know how it works. I don't own 1/2 Prince or its characters. Only the random characters that I throw into the story and the story idea itself.**

"Second Life. The most amazing game the world has seen since the time of my parents. It has a 99% reality level and they say you can even hear the insects as the float lazily by and feel the wind gently brush against your face. But I wouldn't know, because I'm not allowed to play. My parents are weird like that. They told me that they used to play but stopped after a certain incident. They never told me what had happened but now neither they or myself are allowed to play."

"My name is Min Bao Yu and that's why I cannot give a presentation on the virtual reality game Second Life" I finish my presentation and head to my seat. The room is completley silent for a couple seconds and then lauhgter breaks out around the entire classroom. "I bet they died once and then decided never to play again" snickers someone from across the room. "I disagree" says another voice "I think that they were so bad that they were forced to never play again" More laughter. The teacher stands up and calls the class back to order, and the bell finally rings. I breathe out a sigh of relief and grab my bag to head home. The whole bus ride (I can't walk home because I get lost too easily) home all I can think about is why my parents don't play.

I sigh again. They would look quite funny as characters. My dad works as a university professor so he would make a good... mage. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would be very powerful though. I picture him and a mages outfit and almost laugh outright. That might be right. My mom is easy to figure out. She would HAVE to be a thief. Why do you ask? It's because she is a cook and deadley accurate with knives. I have learned a lot from her but am still no where near as good as she is as a cook.

"I'm home" I call out. my mom sticks her head around the corner of the kitchen and siles at me "Welcome home dear! Dinner should be ready in an hour or so, and you father is grading papers." I head to my room and turn on my computer to go to the Second Life website in order to listed to my favorite band. 'The Infinate band is still the best, even though their lead singer Prince doesn't play anymore.' There have been a few more bands pop up but they don't compare to the original. It's kind of cool though. every now and then Prince will send in a recording of his voice and a new song and the band will play along with the recording making it seen as if he is really there.

"Dinners ready" calls mom. I put my finished homework into my backpack and head to the amazing smelling kitchen. Dad walks in too and sits down at the small tablle while Mom sets it on the table. Dads eyes eyebrows shoot up "meatbuns for dinner?" "Yup" says Mom cheerfully. "Its been so long since we have had meatbuns so I decided to make some up." "The answer is still no" he tells her. I roll my eyes. this has been an argument between the two of them since I was young. Mom would do something cute, cool, or tastey and then look at dad with big, pleading eyes and he would always look back at her and say no.

That's usually where it ends, but tonight seems different. Mom slams her hands down on the table "Min Gui Wen, it has been so long that I highley doubt that the stupid letter still applies." Dad tries to interrupt but she continues on her rant "I don't know I you remember but I am perfectley capable of protecting myself." Dad fliches as if at a bad memory and Mom continues "And they are waiting for us! They can help us to take care of ourselves!"

I look back and forth between them confused. "What are you talking about?" I ask curiously. Dad looks at me and then back at Mom. "Xiao Lan you know as well as I do why we cannot." She glares at him with eyes that would rival those of the of the Blood Elf himself and sinks back into her chair and we eat the rest of the meal in silence.

I fake a yawn and head to my room saying goodnight as I go so that my parents won't disturb me. I quietley close the door behind me, run over to my bed and reach under it to find my hidden treasure. I pull out the gaming helmet that I bought last week and put it on before I lay down in bed. (I decided to walk home and got lost. I eventually found a gaming shop and stopped in to ask directions. But being 16, in a game store with money to spend, I ended up buying my own Second Life game helmet.) I smile, now I finally get to play Second Life.

I log on and as soon as I fall asleep I'm transported to a large room that almost seems endless in every direction. A tall man with bright orange hair appears in front of me "Hello, and welcome to Second Life. This is your first time playing, so please give us a moment to scan your body and record your vocal frequency. That way, you will be able to immediately enter the game once you put the game helmet on." I tap my foot impatientley while I wait for the scan to be completed."Right, now you may begin to create your character. Before you proceed, I must remind you that you will only have one chance to create a character. Once created, your race, name, and appearance cannot be changed." He tells me.

"Please begin by choosing a race." "I would like to be an elf please."

"You can now choose to beautify or uglify yourself by 30%." "I would like to be 30% more beautiful"

"What would you like to be called in-game?" I think abot it for a moment. "What about Jade Pheonix?" I ask, slightly uncertian. "Sounds pretty good." he tells me with a small smile.

"Do you wish to change your hairstyle, height or other features?" 'Crap' I think to myself 'how am I supposed to keep someone from recognizing me?' "Uhm can I see myself with white hair" I ask him thinking of Prince. He adjusts the color and I immediatley decide that I like the color with my skin tone. "I would also like to be a little bit taller, please." he adjusts my character again. "I think that's all that I want to change"

"Ok." he says "Which continent do you want to be born in?" I think about all the things that each continent are famous for and finally decide that I would really enjoy being on the central continent. "Central please." He just nods at my request and I feel a sensation similar to that of falling.

I wake up on a street in the middle of a town. 'Great, just what I needed. A healthy dose of people staring at me while I lay on the ground.' I stand up quickley and decide to take a look around the town before I decide what my next move should be. As I walk I notice that there are a lot of buildings with different occupations written on the signs out front. 'I wonder which I should choose. I prefer to fight hand to hand but the thought of being a warrior or a thief dosen't sound appealing, and I really don't want to be a long-range fighter of some sort.'

I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts that I don't see the sign untill I run into it. I recoil a bit at the unexpected contact and notice that I have managed to run into one of the very signs that I had been seeing around town. 'I wonder what a transformer is.' I look at the sign untill curiosity gets the better of me and I head into the store to check it out.

A woman behind a tall counter notices me. "Hi! What can I do for you?" She asks pleasantly. "Uhm I was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about being a transformer. It's not like the robot/car thing is it?" She rolls her eyes. "Of course not! A transformer here is someone with the ability to either to partially or fully change their physical body into an animal or animals of their choice."

I blink at her once, and then twice. "That is so cool! how do I sign up?" I ask her eagerly. She smiles. "You need to have 10 different items."

"The claw of a bear."

"The feather of a great bird."

"The goo of a slime."

"The tooth of a wolf."

"The hair off of the very top of a foxes' tail."

"The whisker from a cheetah."

"The scale of a dragon."

"The antler of a reindeer."

"The shell of a turtle"

"And lightning bug from the field of flowers"

"Here is a map so that you can find these items within the newbie area, and good luck to you." She hands me the map and a compass. I walk outside and silently curse my mom for allowing me to inherit her sense of direction. 'How does one use a compass?'

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Hi guys! Welcome to those of you who have come back. I hope you like this story as much as you seemed to like After Life. This is an in depth ending for it so please bear with be because this is all stuff that I thought of randomley.

Bao Yu means precious jade and i thought it sounded cool so yup thats her name.

Please let me know what you think so far.

-I sincerley apologize for the bad spelling and grammer in the chapter and I want to thank bleeb90 for pointing them out so that I could fix them right away. If anyone finds those kind of errors feel free to point them out. It really was my fault for not re-reading the chapter and problably dosen't help that I wrote it at 2:00 a.m. because I couldn't sleep. Oops. **Thanks bleeb90!**


	2. Chapters 3 & 4

"AAAUURRRAAGG! The stupid thing won't STOP MOVING" I finally give up on ever figuring out how the compass works and throw it with all my strength at a nearby tree. It bounces off with a small clicking sound before falling harmlessly into the grass. I feel my eyebrow twitch at the fact that the compass did not break even when I used ALL of my (apparently) pitiful strength.

I stomp over to it and raise my foot, ready to kick it to a satisfying 'death' when I notice that the arrow has finally stopped moving. My eyebrow twitches again but I push down the urge to kill the offending object and instead lean over to see its' surface. The arrow is pointing at East but according to the map I need to head North. "That would mean that I have to go..."

I look up and blink. Then I blink again. 'Is that lady being chased by a skeleton zoo?' She keeps running towords me and looking over her shoulder at the stampede of miscalaneous animals that were following her. She finally glances up and notices me and starts waiving her arms frantically. "Run!" She screams. I take one look at the hoarde of incomming animals, and decide to follow her advice.

Several minutes later I see a large tree that would be easy to climb so I nudge the girl with my elbow and point it out. She nodds and we both run towords it and grab a branch. We use the branches to pull ourselves higher into the tree and just sit panting but victorious. When I finally get my breth back I look at the woman curiously. "Why and how on earth did you get an entire zoo of skeletons to follow you and chase us up a tree?"

"Well I had to come to the newbie village in order to try to talk people to live in Infinate City, but then I was attacked by a mob. I got scared and used my new technique _Skeletal Zoo _to escape, but then the Zoo started following me and I panicked because it is much easier to dispell them if I am standing still." She explains to me. "Then can youy get rid of them now?" I ask, pointing down. "Those monkeys are getting closer." She nods and says something I can't quite make out and the Zoo disappears in a cloud of dust. "Eeewww." I complain. "Whats wrong?" she asks. "I think you got mon... m... ACHOO. Yup, you got monkey dust in my nose."

She laughs and starts to climb down the tree. I wait until she is on the ground before I follow. When we are both down safley, we get a good look of each other. She is a cute woman that is shorter, but much cuter, than I am with brown hair that is pulled back into two braided buns. She keeps looking at me and walks in a circle inspecting every inch. When she finally gets back in front of me she has a confused expression. "Prince?" she asks hesitantly. I look around "Where?" I ask. "I have only seen Prince on the posters and website! There are a ton of rumors about him because he disappeared so suddenly."

She looks at me sadly. "No, I'm sorry, I thought that you are Prince." "Me?" when she nods I look at her twice as confused as before. "Im Jade Pheonix... and isn't Price a guy?" "Well She started off as a guy but after (Tells After Life story) then she started recieving threatning letters and Gui was worried so they stopped playing until they thought it would be safe."

"Last I saw them Gui and Prince were getting married. Unfortunatly after that we all lost touch so I don't know how they are doing now." "How do you know all of this?" I ask her suspitiously. "Thats right! I havent introduced myself! My name is Doll." My mouth drops open. "Do you mean that you are THE Doll?" She nods again. "Wow. That explains the mob of people."

I suddeny think about everything that Doll has told me today. 'It's weird. My dads name is also Gui and neither of my parents play second life anymore.' "Doll? What is Princes real name?" I ask her. "I think it is Feng Lan. Why do you ask?" I back up against the tree and slide slowly down. "Gui and Prince are my parents." I tell her. Suddenly she smiles. "That would explain why you look so much like Prince. Are they here too then?" I shake my head no. "Mom asks Dad to play all the time but he always says no. Technically i'm not supposed to be playing either but I have wanted to play since I was young so I finally snuck on. Today is my first day." Doll just laughs "You are just like your mother."

After finding Doll she agreed to help me out and then we both logged off. I take me helmet off and suddenly feel a chill run down my spine. I turn to see my mom standing in the doorway. She crosses her arms "Yes and how was your 'sleep'?" she asks with a knowing look. "It was fine Prince how was yours?" I ask her, slightly annoyed by the fact that my parents ars two of the most famous players in Second Life. Not to mention that they never told me. I could have listened to all of my favorite songs for free!

She walks in, closes the door quietly behind her, and sits down beside me on the bed. "I know you have questions. So what do you want to know?" I take a moment to think about all the questions I have for her.

"Can you really sing that well?"

"Yes. Lolidragon told Yu Lian that I had a good voice and they decided to use it as a way to make more money for Infinite City."

"Why did you always hit dad? I know he is annoying sometimes but still..."

"I guess it was because I was frustrated because he thought I was a guy and I thought he was gay. You should have seen the look on his face when I switched gender. It was absolutley pricless. I thought he was going to faint outright. His eyes were big and his mouth was hanging open but he also looked relieved but scared and sad because I was still his student."

"Will you ever log back on? I know there is a letter and dad is an overprotective knucklehead but Doll really misses you. I would also like to play with you someday too."

"Honestly. I was just waiting for you to log on before I got back on so that I would have an excuse. Oh, I mean, reason to play online again."

She smiles at me "So. How would you feel about teaming up with the legendary Blood Elf?" The door bursts open and this time dad is the one standing with his arms crossed. "Do you mind telling me what you are planning in here?" He asks. "Honey, our daughter has decided to play and I have decided to team up with her." She tells him. his mouth opens and closes a couple times. 'I can't believe that a genius with an IQ of 200 can imitate a fish so perfectly.' I think to myself and cough to hide my laugh. "Fine." He says, obviously knowing that he is outnumbered. "But not without me."

I roll my eyes at his compromise. "Yeay!" Says mom "The Bloody Overlord is back!" "Uhm darling, You are the Bloody Overlady now..." Says dad. She smiles at him and we both take a step back out of fear. "The Blood Elf Prince is still back." She says, and walks out. "Wow. I thought you were going to wet yourself there for a moment dad." I say as I walk past him. "It's not my fault." He says defensively as he follows me. "The last time she smiled at me like that I ended up dying." Don't be so dramatic honey." Says mom as we sit down at the table. "I have killed you lots of times." I spit out my orange juice and start laughing at the image of my mom stomping on him, and then wince as I realize how painful it would be. "Ouch." I say in sympathy. "You have no idea." He says.

School. That one place that you can count on to be boring and interesting at the same time. The place you only go to to see your friends but stay at because you never know what will happen next. The place you can go from zero to hero and back in less than ten minutes. I walk in and sit in my usual (and assigned) seat in the back of the class and wait for everyone else to arrive. My school isn't based off of whoever is the best at sports, or who has the most trophies. Nope. At my school you are popular by how high you are in the rankings in Second Life. If your team wins a tournament you are popular for a week. If they have a high ranking you are popular until you are bumped down or out. If you know and are seen with an extreemly popular team, you are popular until they ditch you.

School is a place where I am a nobody. Why would I be? I only started to play yesterday. I had no plans to change my status. Who cares who is at the top of the 'food chain?' My parents are The most popular players ever to log onto second life, and that was enough to satisfy me. "Hey Bao Yu, what does it feel like to be dead last?" Asks Hong Li, who is of course the post popular male student. "You know what they say about dead last." I tell him as I copy my moms' smile to my dad. "The only place to go now is up."

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Winged Lion Spirit thank you! Your the first person to fave Generation After Life!

Has enyone ever looked up Feng Lans' name? I did and it said it means' Pheonix Orchid' However HonoFenikkusu says it means Windy Orchid. Either way it's still cool. I love my name but I don't think it means/translates into anything...

Oh! And Hong Li is supposed to mean possesor of great strength.

I don't know if the translations are accurate so if you know for sure please let me know so that I can fix and/or change it.


	3. Chapters 5 & 6

"That's what someone in dead last would say." He retorts. "That's ok." I tell him with a wink. "You don't know my parents." "You mean the losers that don't play anymore?" asks his girlfriend (I call her pinky. She only wears pink. Don't get me wrong I love pink, but that much pink on a daily basis is just wrong.) "Yup!" I say with a smile "I talked them into playing again and I am going to team up with them for a while!" "Aaaww how cute." She says in an overly sweet voice. "Wittle baby is gonna play with her mommy and daddy." Instead of smacking her like I really want to I just smile again "Yup!" Her eyes get big and she is about to say something else but the teacher walks in so she goes to her seat.

Tao Ran (Hong Lis' older brother) walks in the room and takes his usual seat next to mine. He is the exact opposite of his brother so we get along really well. "Did you finally do it?" He asks quietly. I nod my head and through the corner of my eye I see him smile before he gets out his history book and sets it on the desk. He ,like his brother, is also very popular but because he is two years older than the rest of the class he doesn't have very many friends. He was held back for those two years because he was sick and in recovery.

Class goes by quickly and when the bell rings i grab my stuff and make my way to my locker. Halfway there Pinkey sticks out her foot and tries to trip me but i kick her in the shin and walk past as if nothing happened. I glance over my shoulder and watch in satisfaction as she starts screaming at Hong Li to do something while jumping up and down on one leg. Tao Ran walks silently beside my until we turn a corner and we meet each others gazes and burst out laughing. "Who knew Pink could be so athletic in her heels?" he snickers.

I laugh with him "Now, now. It takes skills only she has to be able to keep from breaking her neck on a daily basis." We laugh again. by now we are at the bus stop. He pats my head. "See you tomorrow." I quickly shake off his hand. "When will you stop doing that?" I ask him. This is a daily argument for the two of us. He just smiles. "When you grow up." "I am only two years younger than you, you know!" He waves as he walks away and I get on the bus. 'Stupid, no good, monkey faced, jerk!'

I open the door and walk in to the house that smells oddly like pizza. I follow my nose to the kitchen and find that there really is pizza in the house. "MOM?" I yell, worried. She always cooks unless dad forces her to go out to eat or he and I try to make dinner for once. She walks in followed closley by dad. "What?" she asks as she grabs some plates out of the dishwasher. "There is pizza in the house." I tell her. "Yes and your point is?" She asks. "Why is there pizza? You never let us order pizza. You always just make some." I tell her trying to decide whether or not she is sick. "Will you stop staring at me like that?" She asks "I am not sick. I just didn't feel like cooking tonight so your father suggested ordering some pizza. Now hurry up and eat! I have a game to play!"

I watch in awe as she shovels three pieces of the pizzainto her mouth within the first two minutes. Sometimes I wonder how she can eat so much so fast but Idecided long ago that she had hollow legs and the teeth of a shark that couls bite through anything in a record amount of time. When we finish dinner mom quickly gathers the plates and sets them into the sink to do later. She then takes dad and I by the arms and leads/shoves us towords our rooms and throws our gaming helmets to us before she lays down in her bed and falls asleep. dad and I look at each other for a second. He shrugs his shoulders. "She is pretty exciter to play." "That just may be the understatement of the century." I tell him with a laugh. He rolls his eyes at me and I settle into bed, excited for another day in Second Life.

I wake up and notice that I have a PM from Doll. _You parents just PM'd me. They will meet us in the newbie village. I left early so that I can gather some supplies that we will need during training._ '"That's easy enough"I say out loud to noone in particular as I take out my map. "According to this all I have to do is head west." A shot of fear runs through my body. Dolls skeletons broke the compass when they were chasing us! "HOW THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND WEST!

'Ok. All I need is a way to find west... What if I throw a stick into the air and whichever way it points to when it falls is the way I will go.' I look around and decide to use a smallish looking stick . I use all my strength to throw it into the air as high as it will possibly go and wait for it to fall. And wait... "Where did it go?!" 'It must have gotten caught on the other branches.' "Allright. Lets try this again." I find a larger stick with a fat pointy end and a smaller end on the other side and launch it into the air.

I close my eyes and cross my fingers. I can hear it falling through the branches and land with a solid thud on the ground. I slowly open my eyes and stare at the stick in disbeliefe. It landed in a slightly muddy area and managed to stick strait up! "HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?" I scream out. "How does what happen?" Asks a voice from behind me.

I turn around and point at the stick. The stranger looks at me as if trying to find the best way to explain my current problem. "This is a forest so there are many trees. And trees produce branches. Every now and then some branches will fall due to gravity and that's how they end up in the mud or on the ground."

I stare at him for a couple of seconds. "Yes. I'm aware of the fact that gravity causes branches to fall. That is what confuses me. Why didn't the branch fall?" He looks behind me. "But the branch did fall. That's why it is on the ground." "No it's not." I argue. "It's sticking straight up and down. When I threw it into the air it was supposed to fall and point west." "Why not just use a compass?" He asks innocently. "Unfortunatly I didn't inherit my dads' brains." I tell him and walk off. "Uhm, Miss? West is the other way..."

I freeze and turn around slowly. "I knew that. I was testing you to make sure I could trust you." He laughes and walks off. "Wait!" I call out to him. "What's your name?" "I'm Ran. I hope to meet you again soon." I smile at him. "I will look forward to seeing you too. My name is Jade Pheonix by the way. Just Jade for short." He nosd and continues into the forest until I can no longer see him. I walk the way he pointed to be west and follow it. Much to my gratitude, and extreem embarisment the newbie village was only about five minutes away.

I walk into the town and start wandering around, while looking for either Doll or my parents. I eventually walk past a cafe that seems to be very crowded. "It can't be" I say to myself. "That seems too easy." I push my way the the tightly packed crowd untill I reach an area that seems like no one will step into, and look around. I immediatley spot my parents with Doll and I start to laugh. My mom being Prince is quite funny. She is wearing a newbie mask and seems to be very feminine. She is almost unrecognizible. My dad is sitting and quietly playing his insturment and most of the females in the room are looking at him like starving dogs at a piece of meat. Both of my parents are in newbie clothes and although they are famous, no one seems to recognize them. In fact most of the people in the crowd are males and seem to be drooling over the oblivious Doll, who is not disguised at all.

"Mom, dad I'm here." Doll laughes and turns to my dad. "I told you she would take about an hour to be able to find us after she logged on." Mom nods in agreement. "She did get some of her fathers brains. I could never figure out a map, not even if my life depended on it." I laugh at the pride I hear in her voice and sit down with them at the table. "Ok. What do you need to find first?" Asks Dad. I hand him the map. "I wrote down the stuff I need to find on the back." I tell him "I want to be a transformer." "A transformer of what?" Asks Doll. "A transformer can turn into different types of animals." I explain. "Does that mean I can add you to my zoo?" She asks innocently. "Uhm... your zoo is full of skeleton animals so.. thanks but no." She shrugs good naturedly. "Suit yourself."

A sudden strong gust of wind catches my attention and I look up just in time to see a giant red bird fly into the building and land on the back of an empty nearby chair. A white spot on the bird moves and look at it in curisoity until I notice its two large eyes. "Is that a meatbun on a big red bird?" I ask. Mom laughs at me. "Yes this is Meatbun and Fire Pheonix." I immediatly go into fan girl mode. "They are so cute!" I squeal while running over to them. They both look at me and then at my parents who are watching with amused expressions. "Is this your daughter?" She asks politley. "Yes." They say. "Good. Iike her" "Meatbun-bun does too!"

She flies over to my chair and uses her wing to beckon me over. I do as she says. when I step in front of her shereaches backwards and uses her beak to pull a feather out of her tail. She holds it out and I tale it from her. "What is this for?" I ask confused. "I overheard you convesation and know that for your occupation of choice you need the feather of a great bird. So from one pheonix to another I give you this feather to use however you wish. "Thank you." I tell her greatfully and sit down. She laughs softly before laying her head on my shoulder to watch join the small meeting. All three of the adults are staring at us in awe. "What?" I ask confused. Dad speaks up "She has never liked anyone so much or so fast before." He explains. I smile slightly at this and gently pat her on the head. 'One item down, Nine to go."

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

**I PLEAD TEMPORARY WRITERS BLOCK! SORRY FOR THE WAIT!**

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love my reviewers!

You people rock!

You make updating worth it. THANK YOU! Hugs to all of you!

I was so excited to see that 3,631 people read my story only to find out that it was the number of words... still worth it!

Tao Ran is supposed to mean happy and carefree


	4. Chapters 7 & 8

"We should just start at the top of the list." Says Dad. I shrug my shoulders and feel Fire Pheonixs' head move with the motion. We walk out of the small resturant followed by whispers. "They're back." "She looks just like.." "They even have the pets." One girl blocks our path and puts her hand on her hips in stubborn, no nonsense way. "You two. What are your names?" Mom and Dad share a knowing look. "My name is Guiliastes and this is my wife." Her face shows her disbelief. She turns to Mom next. "And your name is?" Mom sighs. "My name is Prince."

The girl looks startled. "But Prince is a guy!" I cough to hide my laughter. Mom looks around the crowd. "I assure you all that I am Prince, and that I am very much female." Two girls and three guys faint. I throw my hand over my mouth as more laughter bubbles up my throat to try to muffle the sound, but with little success. Mom shoots me a gare but I can't stop laughing at this situation. _'Those poor fan girls! They must be devistated to know that their biggest crush is a woman. And I bet the guys can't believe that the strong and mighty Blood Elf is really a girl!' _

Tears start rolling down my face and even Doll is laughing softly. Fire Pheonix lands gently on my shoulder and puts her feathery head close to my ear. "Daughter of my master, we must be going so that we can get the other items that you are required to have." I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down. "Mom Fire Pheonix says we should get going." I tell her with out thinking. Everyone has their attention on me for a moment before glancing several times back and fourth between my Mom and I. Finally with a collective thud they all faint. Dad shakes his head. "There are going to be a lot of angry fans."

We make our way past all the bodies, trying not to step on any stray fingers until we reach the gate. Dad leads us into the woods leaving Mom, Doll, and I to follow quietly. "I think maybe you should call your parents by their names for a little while." Says Doll, who looks worried. "There were a lot of people that didn't like your parents very much, especially when they were togther." "Ok." I agree. "But that is going to be weird. I have never looked at a girl and called her Prince before."

Dad laughs. "It was strange for all of us. When we found out Prince was a girl I nearly fainted but that was because I was so relieved." "Why were you relieved?" I ask curious. Mom laughs and Dads face turns a deep red as he blushes. "Because at the time I thought Prince was male and I was completly in love with him. I thought that because I was in love with him that I was gay. I had accepted the fact that I loved Prince but it also kind of scared me to feel such feelings for another person that didn't return my feelings. When I found out my beloved Prince was female I understood why she always acted the way she did and that understanding made me feel relieved." "THAT'S SO CUTE!" Yells Mom as she throws her arms around him.

I turn my head away, not really wanting to see their public display of affection, only to come eye to chest with a very large, brown bear. The bear lets itself fall to the ground so that is is looking at me directly in the eye. I Behind me, all movement has stopped as we watch the bear. Finally it sneezes. shuffles backwards, and walks away. I look down and notice a pearly claw laying on the ground. I pick it up and put it with the feather in my pouch before I turn around. "So what's next?"

All three people are staring at me in shock. "I thought you would have to fight them, not let them sneeze on you." Says mom with a slight look of disgust at the saliva on my shirt. "If you think about it it makes sense that I don't have to fight them. Why would I fight what I am going to be allied with?" I ask. Dad throws his hands in the air victoriously. "She did get some of my brains!" I roll my eyes and look at Doll. "Which way do we have to go next?" I ask her. "North." She tells me. I start walking in what I am sure is north. Doll clears her throat. "That's not the right way, but on the bright side, you finally found west."

"Stupid confusing directions." I mumble. Mom laughs. "That's why I married a genius. I finally got tired of getting lost." Dad shakes his head. "If it wasn't a straight line, you would have gotten lost on the way to the alter." Mom shoots Dad a glare. Dad just gets a mischevious look in his eyes. "Your most fabulus Higness Prince!" He screams as he launches himself at her.

I watch in interest as she lifts one booted foot and kicks him down. He lands on the ground with a solid thud. Mom stands still for a second before she starts laughing. "Sorry Gui. It's an automatic reaction."

Dad sits up and rubs his head. "I forgot how much that hurt." I look at Doll who is smiling slightly. "Were they like this before?" I ask quietly. "It used to happen at least once every day." She says. "Why?" I ask. "I think that Gui always did it on purpose so that Prince could vent some anger on a regular basis. He said that he originally acted like that to tease Prince, but eventually they grew to like each other."

"That makes sense... I guess." Doll looks at me knowingly. "If you think about just who your parents are, you would understand that they are both very stubborn and in their situation that was how they expressed their feelings for each other."

I think about how unusual their relationship would be if everyone thought my Mom was a guy. "I guess I understand how that would work ." She nods.

A green slime comes out of some nearby bushes and slowly makes it's way towords me. I hold still. 'Am I just supposed to stand here again?' I decide to wait and see what will happen this time and once again just hold still. I feel a sudden burst of pain on the back of my leg.

Ding- system notice: Player Jade Pheonix- Minus 5 LP

I look back and see another slime with its teeth stuck in my leg. 'It's getting slime goo all over me!' "Mom, can you collect some of this stuff from off of me please?" She takes some of it in an old health potion bottle.

I look on the slime that is still attached to my leg. "Now you die. I can't believe that you got your nasty slime all over my leg!" I start kicking the slime untill a system notice tells me that it has died. I spot another one and decide that I won't wait for it to attack me and immediatly go after it.

An hour later slimes stop appearing and I lay down in relief. "That was disgusting."

Mom looks thoughful for a moment. "It's spit for me, skeletons for Loli, and slime for my daughter... interesting. I bet if we ever ran across slobbering, gooey skeletons the three of us would drive them completley extinct within minutes." Dad and Doll start laughing, but both mom and I shudder at the mental image.

~Small time skip~

The hair, whisker, scale, and antler were all suprisingly easy to find. I was a bit disappointed that they weren't more of a challenge but happy that I was closer to my career. The whisker, scale, and antler all fell off the animals when they were scratching, all we had to do was pick them up off the ground. Or in the scales case we had to pull it out of the tree the dragon was useing to scratch with.

The hair was a bit harder, but not by much. Dad used one of his arrows to give the fox a haircut. Unfortunatly he took off several hairs so we just collected and took them all with us, hopeing that the hair we were looking for was in with the others.

I hear my alarm clock going off in real life and sigh. _'Another day at school.' _I say goodbye to Doll and log off. I get up and start getting ready for the school day. Mom pokes her head into my bedroom and tells me that breakfast is ready. I slump over and start picking at my food, thinking about how I was going to fail class today. About a month ago our teacher asked us to write letters to one famous or better known player in second life so that we could interview them in front of the classroom.

since at the time I wasn't allowed to play the teacher told me that I could just write an essay about what I would do if I could play second life. That didn't work. I had no idea where to start. What would I do? I watch as my Mom and Dad sit and eat their waffles and get an idea.

"Mom? Can you come to school with me today?" She looks at me in confusion. "I guess, Why?" "For school I have to interview someone well known in Second Life, and you guys are the most well known people that I know... at the last minute." She smiles warmly. "Is there a limit to the number of people you can bring?" She asks. I shake my head. "The teacher never said that there only had to be one." I watch as her smile slowly grows. She dashes out of the kitchen and into her bedroom and slams the door shut behind her.

I look at Dad who is pale but smirking. "I just did something bad, didn't I?" "Most likley. I guess this means I have to take the day off to make sure nothing gets destroyed."

I gulp, and head out the door too the bus stop. _'I wonder what she has planned. Whatever it is even Dad is taking the day off.' _I get on the bus and find a seat. _'This is definatly goung to be an interesting day. _

~Xiao Lan POV~

"Hello Lolidragon, This is Feng Lan. Can you call up the team? My daughter needs a good show and tell for school today."

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Jade still needs:

The tooth of a wolf.

The shell of a turtle.

And lightning bug from the field of flowers.

Thank you for being so patient! I hope you enjoyed!


	5. Chapters 9 & 10

I walk into the classroom and sit down at my desk. By now the first bell has rung and most of my classmates are already sitting at their desks.

I glance out the widow and into the street below thinking about the project. The other students are with thier person or people that they invited. I look at the door, hoping to see my Mom and Dad standing there but grow disappointed when I don't see them.

I look out the window again to hide the single tear that slides silently down my face. I can hear the other kids laughter ringing in my ears and I shake my head to clear it away. My parents would make it. _'But what if they don't?'_ I ask myself fearfully. _'It's not like I can just go up in front of he classroom and say that I invited Prince, and oh yes, by the way, Prince is my Mom.'_

I hear the laughter again and put my head down on my desk. _'It's going to be a long day.' _The final bell rings and the teacher calls on kids to present the person they invited and how they are well known.

The whole time I have my fingers crossed underneath my desk canting quietly, Please don't call on me next.

Hong Li and Ran present their father who is apparently a GM for another company. He introduces himself as Lee and Hong Li and Ran start explaining about what he does in Second Life.

I meet Rans gaze and he raises an eyebrow and looks around. He is asking where my person/people are. I shrug my shoulders and shake my head. He moves his fingers into sign language, and tells me 'ok'. I nod my head and the barest trace of a smile graces his lips befor it disappears.

The boys finish their presentation and head back to their seats. The teacher looks down at her paper."Ok last but certainly not least is Bao Yu. I stand and walk slowly to the front of the classroom. Ran shoots me a simpathetic look and his brother snickers. I stand in front of the classroom for a moment to gather my thoughts. I open my mouth to speak but loud noises in the hallway make the teacher tell me to hold on for a moment as she goes out to investigate.

I her a muffled conversation through the door and the other people in the classroom start talking. The teacher walks back in with a slightly red face. She holds out her arm and gestures to the people standing behind her. "Bao Yu I belive these belong to you." Two heads poke in and I see my parents smiling at me from behind the teacher.

"Yes." I tell her as my face flushes a deep crimson. Hong Li laughs outright. "Hey Bao Yu, You were supposed to invite someone famous or well known, not these nobodys that don't even play!" The class erupts into laughter but stops quickly when my Mom glares in their direction. Both my parents walk in, followed by four other people.

My jaw drops. "You brought everyone with you?" I ask. "Of course." She answers. "I wanted to make a comeback." "So you decided to make a comeback at my school?" She laughs "Yup! I though it was about time you stopped failing your school projects." Dad looks up sharply. "You failed your school projects?" He asks, Scarily calm. I gulp slightly. "Only two. And the only reason I failed is because you didn't let me play and the Projects were over Second Life!"

Someone clears theis throat and a tall man with brown hair smiles kindly at us. "As comical as it is to watch you three togther I think it is best that you give your presentation now." I look around the classroom and notice that everyoine is watching us expectantly.

"Oh! Uhm. Hi everyone, today I have invited Odd Squad to talk about for my school project." The room is completley silent for a little bit and I glane quickly at Ran. He is trying to hide his laughter from his brother and when I look over I see why.

His face is caught between disbelief, anger, and suprise and keeps opening and closing his mouth, so theat he greatly resembles a fish. I smirk in his direction and I watch as his expression immediatley turns into one of rage. "This is not Odd Squad." He says loudly. "Oddsquad has three guys and three chicks. I see four chicks and two guys."

The whole team but my Mom starts laughing. Everyone is looking at each other confused and one of the female members steps forward, dragging my Mom with her. "I'm Lolidragon and this person right here is Prince."

Hong Li laughs loudly as if he finds this humerous. "Yeah right." He finally says. "Prince is male and according to the stupid rule book no gender changes are allowed." I watch as Lolidragons eyebrow twiches slightly and Mom scratches the back of her head nervously."

Mom steps forward. "Well you see, I got into a fight with my brother over the fact that girls got help and boys had to do all the fighting. I got mad and told him that I would be able to take care of myself and I would still be able to beat him. That night Second Life went online. I was the first person to log on so the GM said I would get one wish granted. I remembered the fight with my brother and asked her to make me more masculine. After that I decided to become an elf due to how gorgeous my character looked. The GM started top change my character and about two hours later we have the Prince everyone knows today... for the most part."

By now my classmates mouths are almost touching the floor in disbelief and Ran is laughing so hard tears are streaming down his face. Hong LI speaks up again. "I still don't believe it." He tells us stubbornly. His Dad bonks him on the head lightly. "You better believe it." He says sternly. "I've seen it with my own eyes."

He stands up and smiles widley. "Hello Odd Squad. How... interesting to meet you again after all these years." Mom steps back with a slight growl. "Lee."

He chuckles. "I'm so glad that you didn't forget all about me. To be honest I was so worried that you had forgotten about me that I asked my sons here to keep an eye on your lovely daughter."

I look at Ran who is hanging his head low in shame and horrer and at Hong Li who is smirking at him. Lee speaks up again. "I was so happy to hear that Ran was able to get so close to your daughter. I just had to use this oppertunity to see how close they were becoming. And when they used that cute little sign language to communicate I knew they would be oh so cute togther."

Rans chair hits the floor and he runs out of the classroom. I try to run after him but Wolf holds me back. Lee looks at my parents and grins victorously. "I told you so."

My vision gets slightly red and I look at the man with pure hate. My instincts take over and I stomp heavily on Wolfs foot. I feel bad but ignore it. I walk closer to Lee and watch as his expression turns into one of amusement.

I stand in front of him and fix a fake smile on my face. "I really don't like you." I tell him plesantly. His expression again changes, but this time into one of confusion. I put my hand out as if to shake his, but instead put all my emotions into my rage and punch him in the face.

He falls to the ground and appears to have passed out. "That is for ruining my day." I tell him. I turn away and begin looking for Ran.

~Gui POV~

I can't even comprehend what is happening. One minute everyone is staring at my wife in awe and disbelief and the next Lee is standing in front of us once again.

I watch quietly as the 'reunion' takes place. When the boy runs out of the room and Wolf has to grab my daughter to keep her from following him I know that Lee had something planned out for them.

I am brought out of my thoughts when I hear Wolg grunt in pain. I open my mouth, ready to scold Bao Yu but stop when I notice that she seems to be dangerously calm. _'She truly is the daughter of the Blood Elf.'_

She sticks out her hand to Lee and I take a step forward, worried that he will try to hurt her. She leaves it there for a couple of seconds, and just as he raises his hand to accept hers, she pulls back and punches him in the face.

I sweat drop a little at the scene. _'Is it a good or a bad thing we had her take self defence and karate lessons when she was younger?' _She runs out of the room, and I assume it is to find the boy. Lees other son is trying to wake up his father and I turn to my team. "I think it's about time we left."

They all nod in agreement and we begin to file out of the room. At the last second I turn back to the teacher. "Sorry about that." I tell her smiling. "And about my daughters grade, can you tell me what she will be recieving?" The teacher looks nervous. "A- because she attacked one of the other guests." Thanks! Thats all I need to know!" I tell her. I turn around and follow the others out of the room.

~Ran POV~

_'No. No. No. __**NO!' **_The same word keeps bouncing around inside my head. I never thought that when my father suggested making friends with Bao Yu on my first day that this was his plan.

I never guessed that I was just his pawn. I always knew that my brother was easily manipulated by him but I never guessed that I was used in the same way.

I run to a large park and head to my favorite spot in one of the trees. Tears start to slide down my face and I let them. When my mother died two and a half years ago, I thought I had no one left.

~Flash Back- Still in Ran POV~

It was raining that night. Mom and I were laughing and pointing out the different shapes we could see in the darkness. A semi truck came around the corner going to fast and tipped over. Right on top of our car.

Later, I learned that the driver had just robbed a bank and was trying to get away. Mom died immediately and I was taken to the hospital in a coma with two broken legs, a broken wrist, and severe bruising all over my body.

Right before I woke up I remember hearing Moms laugh. That was also the day I met my father and brother for the first time. I never liked them though. They seemed cruel beneath their friendliness and smiles.

~End Flash Back- Still in Ran POV~

It took me a year to wake up and then another year to be able to walk around and build up my leg muscles. After that I moved in with my 'family' despite my dislike of them.

"...an?"

"Ran?"

"RAN! I know it's you up there! We need to talk!"

I look down from my position in the tree to see Bao Yu standing there with her hands on her hips. I slowly release my breath, close my eyes, and allow myself to fall.

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

This one's for Sakurakoi who has come up with an awsome idea to help out with the plot of the story!


	6. Chapters 11 & 12

I open my eyes half way down and grab onto a branch so that I can swing my self upright and land on my feet. Bao Yu glares at me and I swallow the laugh that threatens to escape.

"DUMMY! I told you not to do that! You are going to get yourself killed! This isn't the game you know!" I stare at my shoes, afraid to meet her piercing gaze.

Her voice gets softer. "Why...? Why did you run away from me?" "Because I thought you would be mad at me." I tell her truthfully. An unexpected pain on the top of my head knocks me off balance and I fall onto the ground.

I look up to see Bao Yu standing above me with her hand still raised but she is smiling softly. "It's about time you looked me in the eyes you jerk. Why would I be mad when it was apparent that you were hurt by what your father said? You have also made it very clear that you don't like him."

She holds out her hand to me and I take it. She helps me off the ground and I nod my thanks. I sigh. "I don't want to go back to that man ever again." I tell her. She looks thoughtful for a couple seconds. "How do you feel about staying at my house?"

"No. I absolutly disagree with this decision." Says dad with an even glare. I look at mom who is the easiest to argue with. "Mom his father is Lee, and he doesn't even like him."

I hide my victorous smile as her last defences fall and dads frown wavers. "Please daddy. He doesn't have any other family." Mom joins me in begging and we both give him the puppy dog eyes.

He glares back and forth between us and bites his lip. "I'm going to end up regreting this." I run out of the room. "RAN! You can stay!"

"Your room is the old guest room. The bathroom is at the end of the hallway and my parents bedroom is across from yours and mine is the one to theleft of yours." I stop talking and smile brightly at him.

He gives me a small smile back. "Thank you, for eveything." "Thats what friends are for." I tell him happily.

Dad walks down the hallway, followed closly by mom. "Good night you two." He says, sounding slightly depressed. I giggle and kiss him on the cheek. "Night dad!" Mom rolls her eyes and winks at Ran. "I hope you like food! tomorrow we are celebrating your arrival into our family!"

His eyes get big. "Uhm, you really don't have to... I mean that's very nice of you but are you sure thats ok? My father..." Mom smiles and pats his cheek. "You are not your father though are you?" Tears well up in his eyes. "No. I'm not him. Thank you."

I watch as my parents disappear into their room and close the door. I look at Ran who still seems to be struggling to hold back his tears. I hug him and one tear falls freely down his handsome face.

I kiss him delicatly on the cheek and wipe away the tear. "Goodnight." I whisper into his ear, and slip quietly into my own bedroom.

'Bao Yu, wake up sweetheart. I need your help with breakfast." I yawn and get out of bed. In the kitchen mom sets out a bunch of ingredients and begins to cook the 'breakfast buffet' while I get all of the plates and table ready.

Two hours later I look up at the doorway for the hundreth time this morning and almost drop the plates. Dad and Ran are standing there with similar expressions of sleepyness on their faces with thein noses in the air. I nudge mom and she turns around. We laugh and both boys seem to snap out of their zombie like trance. Dad frowns when he finally realizes why we are laughing and Ran turns a light shade of pink.

"You boys are right on time." She says cheerfully. We all sit down at the table, which is now filled with any and every food we could think of to eat this morning. Everyone fills up their plates and I secretly watch as Ran takes his first bite. "Wow." He exclaims. "This is delicious!" I smirk. "That's only because my mom likes to eat so much that she had to learn to cook when she young so that my grandma wouldn't have to."

Mom frowns at me. "No. It was actually because my mom cooked so well that the army appeared at the doorstep asking to buy her poison. After that I took it upon myself to keep my family alive by cooking. So my stomach had very little to do with it."

Dad rolls his eyes and Ran laughs. I listen to the sound and soon join in. Both of my parents eventually join us, and we laugh freely togther. Like a family who has been togther years rather than a single morning.

A knock at the door slowly brings us to a halt. I get up and anwer the door just as the man raises his hand to knock again. The police officer stares grimly at me. "Is a young man named Ran here?" I nod. "Ran? The door's for you." He walks out of the kitchen and freezes at the sight of the officer.

"Son, I'm here about your mother. We have reason to believe that her death was the result of murder. We also believe that your life may also me in danger, along with the young lady here."

I watch Rans face pale rapidly as I only half listen to the officer. I snap back to attention when he contines speaking. "We have been trying to get to you for months now without your fathers notice and we had some of our best men following you. We have DNA evidence that has lead us to believe that your father may have been the one to cause the accident that killed your mother."

Dad walks into the room just then and Ran looks like a cornered animal. Scared and unwilling to accept reality. He backs away from the officer and dad wraps his arms aroud him in a sigh of affection that he used to use with me whenever I had a bad dream.

He starts sobboing in dry, broken gasps and I watch as both men fall to the ground with the weight of Rans grief. The officer clears his throat. "Son. I know that this is extreemly hard for you but I have to ask you to do two things for me." He kneels down on the floor so that he is face to face with Ran.

"The first thing I need you to do is tell me everything that you remember. You don't have to do it now but soon... We will have to know everything that you know in order to finally out him behind bars for good. The second and final thing you have to do is stay away from him. We don't know what he is up to or why he has done this so we want to try to keep you safe if you really are his target."

From his position behind Ran, dad nods. "We will do our best to help in any way that we can." The officer lowers his head in a gesture of thanks and stands up. "Thank you. And you should be careful too. I will make sure to have some of my men positioned around you for your saftey, but don't be suprised if you never see them."

"I understand." Says dad quietly. "The officer finally stands. "Here." He says as he hands me a card. "If you ever need anything, call this number and we will be right here." "Thank you." He smiles gently. "I'm just doing my job." He leaves and shuts the door behind him.

I turn and look at Ran who is still sobbing. Dad picks him up and carries him to his room. I hear the springs on the bed squeak in protest and then the door closes. "Come on says mom, walking into the room for the first time. "Lets clean up."

"Do you think he will be ok?" I ask as we clean the dishes. Mom sighs. "I think that he will be fine eventually, but until that time all we can do is give him our support, and the family that he deserves." "How can we do that though? We aren't even his real family." I ask quietly. "Honey. You should know better than anyone that family is not always related by blood."

I pull my hands out of the soapy water and dry them on my jeans. "Should we do somthing to take his mind off of it? Or do you think that we should we leave them alone?" Mom shuts off the water and leans on her elbows. "Ill ask your dad what he thinks. I wonder if they would be ok with some Second Life. It always calmed me down to beat up some mobs..."

She stands and heads to the bedroom. I follow and stay outside the door as mom walks in. She leaves the door open so that I can hear what they say. I hear Ran take a deep breath. "Is it ok if I play for a little while?" I almost hear my mom smile. "Sure, no problem. We can all log on and play togther for a while."

Within the next five minutes my mom, dad, and I are all sitting at a cafe waiting for ran to show up. My jaw drops as the boy who helped me find the village the day with the gravity-defying stick. It hits me like a ton of bricks. "Ran." He looks up and smiles but it wavers a bit.

"Hey guys." I stomp over to him and smick him on the back of the head. "Ouch!" He exclaims loudly. "What the heck was that for?!" "That is for not telling me that you are my Ran when you helped in the forest!" I yell. He rolls my eyes and I immediatly feel relieved that he seems to be acting normal again.

"It's not my fault that you didn't realize that your best friend was standing right in front of you!" He says with a slightly lower voice than what I had used. "Fine. I'll give you that one." I tell him, giving in. I smack him again. "And what was that one for?" He asks. "That one is for laughing at me about west."

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Thanks sun!

Sun is the ONLY new person to review so this chapter is for you... Even if it is late.

Other reviewers:

GoldenSeas

akagoh

SakuraKoi

Bleeb90

Alisese

ElvenLove

MickieC

Winged Lion Spirit

Thorn the Laughing Willow

Guest

Without you all I don't know where the story would be. SakuraKoi had some awsome ideas that I have modified a bit and am using for the story and poor Bleeb90 has been like an unnamed editor making both After Life and Generation After Life easier to understand and they both have (a lot) less grammar and spelling errors

I hope everyone enjoyed!


	7. Chapter 13 & 14

"It's not my fault that you are so bad at directions, you even said once that it was all your moms fault because she is the one whom you inherited your sense of direction from."

Mom rolls her eyes. "I already told you that I fixed that problem when I married Gui." I watch dad sweatdrop. "Please tell me that's not the only reason." She laughs. "Nope! I really liked you from the first time I saw you, but I didn't consider the fact that I might love you until you told me that my gender didn't matter to. I honestly thought that you were in love with me at the time because of my looks and not just me."

"Guys? That's nice and all, but it's also kind of gross to hear you go all lovey dovey on us." Mom coughs and her face is very slightly flushed when he faces me again.

"Fine then let's go give a wolf a dental exam." Dad gives her a pointed look and she huffs. "Fine. Let me rephrase. You will get the tooth and I will stay in a spot where they cannot bite me."

Ran and I laugh. "I love the fact that you love it when you are completly covered in blood but at the slightest hint of spit you go crazy!" She glares at me. "They should know better than to bite a delicate young lady." She says as her eyes fill with the unending emotion of contempt. "Even if they didn't before then they really do now." She says with a satisfied smirk.

I shudder at her sadistic smirk and resist the urge to run away from her. "Oh yes, and buy the way I won't provide any help for this one so you and Ran are on your own. If Loli and I could defeat the stupid wolf boss then you two should be able to do the same. Jade you are the daughter of the Blood Elf and 'gay' bard, so I assume you will do just fine. And Ran dear, you are the son of one our greatest rival and enemy which means that you can be and are smart, brave, and talented. Good luck you two!"

By now my mouth is hanging open comically and I look at Ran and see my reaction mirrored on his face. "Wow." he says breaking the silence. I close my mouth and manage to nod my head. "That is exactly what I was just thinking."

I look away from Ran and notice that my parents are already walking away hand in hand. "Thanks for the help so far guys." I yell at them, being slightly sarcastic. Mom raises one hand and waves dissmisivly while dad looks over his shoulder and laughs quietly.

"So would you like to lead?" I ask Ran in a sweet and innocent voice. He must notice that I'm acting and raises an eyebrow at me. I let out a huff of breath. "It's because I don't want to get us both lost." I mumble.

The corner of his mouth twitches with a hidden laugh and he turns around and begins walking while he pulls out the large map. A small swell of guilt runs through my body as I realize that since he is in front of me and I have no weapons that he would be considered my 'meatshield' if we happen to get into trouble.

I walk a bit faster and match his pace as he walks with his eyes concentrated on the map. The way he bites his lip when he concentrates makes me smile. Every time we take a test he does it and I can't help but notice that he really is very cute when he does it. I roll my eyes at my thinking and look out for trees as we walk.

A shadow detaches itself from the trees and I freeze in place. Ran keeps walking so I reach out and grab him by the collar. He stops and lowers the map to glare at me but switches his gaze to the 'shadow' as a low moan is heard from it.

It rushes at us and I instinctivly thrust my right fist forward. I hear the sickening thud as my hand connects with flesh and bone and stare wide eyed at whe wolf that is now laying on the ground in front of us.

"If that's what I get for trying to get a hug then I refuse to ever hug you again." He says as he rubs his jaw. "W-Wolf?" I ask tentativly. "The one and only!" He says happily. He looks around and picks up a small object lying in the grass. He opens his hand and I see a tooth resting in his palm. He wistles. "Yup, I am definatly never going to try to hug you again."

I look at the tooth and get a crazy idea. I look at Ran and point to the tooth. "Do you think that one will work?" His eyes light up with mischief and he shrugs his shoulders. I look back at Wolf who is still holding the tooth mournfully. "Wolf? Can I have the tooth you lost please?"

He shakes his furry head and releases a sigh. "I learned long ago to never ask questions about your parents, and seeing that you are a perfect balence of the two I won't ask you any either." He holds up the tooth and I grab it.

I start running. "Only two more to go! Thanks Wolf! Now I'm closer to being a transformer!" I hear Wolf ask Ran, "You can be a giant robot in this game?"

After we left Wolf we immediatly went to find the turtle. Ran suggested we find a normal turtle and make the quest a bit easier, so that is exactly what we had set out to find.

We found a normal pond and a normal log and on top we found what we thought was our normal turtle. We were saddened to find out that we were right. It had been a normal turtle. A normal snapping turtle that is. Three bruises, one broken finger, and multiple bite marks later, I had my shell.

I sit and inspect the items that I have gotten so far. Each one seems different but makes a lot of sense for someone like me who wants to be a transformer. I finally get bored and gather up all the items and place them into the shell for safekeeping, when they begin to glow.

I drop them and take a step back, but just as quickly as the light appeared, it disappeares. Confusion settles deep into my body and I bend over to look at the shell again. Suprise runs through my body and chases out the confusion as I notice the writing on the once blank shell. "Ran! I know what's next!"

"So let me get this straight. You have to go to a place called the field of flowers to get a lightning bug so that you can get the job you want. And this is supposed to be the most dangerous of all the tasks when all we have really done on the last quests is ask, take, and kill in order to get random items from different animals."

I roll my eyes. "That about sums it up." By now I am curious too. How can a place called the 'field of flowers' be dangerous? What will we have to do? Tiptoe through deadly tulips?

He raises his voice accusingly. "If I am swallowed by a giant venus fly trap, I expect you to take full responsibility."

"Right." I say sarcastically. "The game makers are really going to make giant man eating flowers."

"Ok, there are three things wrong with that statement." He says, offended. "The first is the fact that your mother has a MEAT BUN as a pet. The second is that you have told me all about your aunt Loli, and I know that she is the daughter of the president, so I wouldn't be so sure that something so crazy does not exist. Last but not least is the fact that you just called it a MAN eating plant. That is a mean joke."

I smile warmly. "Ah, but so true. If it makes you feel better we could dress you up as a girl and hope plant's can't smell. With how femminine you appear already, it would be easy to-"

I cut off quickly as I notice that we have walked into a giant field packed with different flowers. "I think we found it." I say quietly. A strong gust of wind sweeps through the flowers playfully and I watch in awe as it picks up pollen and petals and swirls around us.

My body starts to feel heavy and tired. I panic as my vision fades around the edges into a deep black. I can only struggle for a moment before the weight of my own limbs drags me deeper into the blackness and everything seems to disappear.

I run. I don't know what from or why, but I know that it cannot be allowed to catch up. I turn corners and keep going through an unfamiliar building but I can feel it behind me as it begins to catch up. I don't risk taking a glance behind me because I'm afraid of what I will see.

Another corner proves to be a dead end but I see the buttons and door for an elevator. I run to it, hoping and praying that I have enough time to get in. The door finally fives off a ding and opens. I look at the scene in front of me with horror.

The elevator isn't there. I stand frozen and stare at the inky darkness of the shaft and make a decision. I turn and face the presence that has been following me. Instead of slowing down It gets faster. It barrels into me and we both fall into the darkness.

I blink and find myself once again back where I started. I run and run. What kind of test is this? I find myself back at the elevator shaft. I take a deep breath and look at the edges and see a small ledge that circles around the shaft.

I act quickly and step onto the thin edge. In the last test the figure had come headlong for me without bothering to slow down or simply just push me into the shaft. I quickly position myself on the edge opposite from the door and hope that my simple plan works.

The figure once more runs at me from down the hallway. I refuse to let my gaze drift away as it draws closer. My breath catches as it reaches the doorway, but as I had hoped, It keeps running and falls by itself into the abyss. The picture shimmers and another scene takes it's place.

I open my eyes a couple times to allow myself to grow used to the new I am finally able to see I turn around in place. This time I am in what looks like a large construction site. Behind me is a large hill and in front is a lake sized mud pit while there are large machines and heavy equipment everywhere.

Ran appears at the top of the hill and starts running down when he sees me. I laugh at the carefree look on fis face but the bubbleing feeling disappears as he trips and begins to tumble down. I jump in front of him to try to keep him out of the mud but when we collide we are both thrown backwards.

I struggle to stand and one of his steady hands helps me get there. I turn around to do the same for him, but when I see him my body freezes in horrer. He is waist deep and sinking fast. I reach out and take his hand and begin pulling but against all odds, he only begins to sink faster.

"Jade." I freeze at the name. Before Second Life he was the only one to ever call me Jade and it became his own personal nickname for me. I glance at his face, that is now much closer to the mud than I am comfortable with and cringe. He looks peaceful. Like he is of with dying in a buch of mud. I give another tug but he sinks further into the unforgiving earth.

The mud is now touching his chin and I can see in his eyes that he has given up. But I have not, and will not. He shakes his head slowly. "You have to let me go." I shake my head in defiance and pull on him again, even as warm tears streak down my dirty face.

He smiles apologetically for a moment before he uses the arm I have been tugging on to push me back so that I fall onto my butt on the hill. I struggle to get up, but when I do I see the tips of his slender fingers disappear into the earth, as if he was never there to begin with.

I fall onto my knees and begin desperatly searching for any signs of him under the surface. My tears flow freely, following one another like a never ending parade and just before I jump in after him, the scene once again changes.

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Special thanks to both thegirlinthewindow and ApplePieisGreat for reviewing for the first time. THANK YOU!


	8. Orange

Ok guys, here's what's up. There is a little girl named Danny that lives in my village and she has lukemia. We are doing an orange out tomorrow and even if you live way far away I would totally appreciate if you would all do the same to show your support.

I don't know the girl personally but my younger sister has a friend that is close to her. It would mean a lot to me if you would also find some random orange to throw on. Please find some time this week to wear orange and keep Danny in your thoughts. She is a little girl with a big heart and eagerness to learn, (She WANTS to go to school) who deserves a chance to be recognized.

Please help me orange it up!

Kat

=/ =\ =/ =\ =/ =\ =/


	9. Chapters 15 & 16

I open my eyes and groan when I notice that I am in yet another crazy dream. I look around and notice that I am in an old van... in the middle of a large sewer.

'Gross.' I think to myself. I sit up and look around and notice that two men are dragging Ran through a door. His gaze meets mine and his eyes seem to plead with me to run, but I hold my ground. The door shuts with a clang and I begin to panic slightly.

I quickly decide that before I try to escape, that I need to save Ran first and slide open the door. I don't bother closing it because I don't want to draw attention to myself because of the noise.

As I step out of the van, ankle deep water soaks into my shoes and I start praying very hard that it is just water. I walk as silently as possibe to the door and stop to listen for any noise on the other side. When I don't hear anything I turn the knob and push slighly and peek through the small gap that I've created.

I don't see anything so I open the door some more and look again. When the room still seems empty I stick my head around the side and look quickly for anyone. I spot Ran tied to a chair and another doorway that has light spilling through, and can hear several voices.

I tiptoe to Ran and pull a filthy rag out of his mouth. "What are you doing?" He whispers angerly. I glare at him. "Saving your butt, that's what. My last dream was horrible and I'm not letting anything like it happen again."

I manage to free one of his bound wrists and he uses that hand to cover mine. "You need to go, It's too dangerous right now. I romove his hand from mone and get back to work. "I won't leave you here." I tell him with my inherited stubbornness.

He gives in with a sigh just as I free his second wrist. I point to the rope tied at his waist and he silently gets to work while I start on his ankles. The voices suddenly get louder and the stench of alcohol fills the room.

I look around Ran to the two men who are sharing a dring and thank my luck stars that Rans back is to them so they haven't seen me yet. The final knot comes free. I hold up three fingers and slowly count down. When I hit zero Ran picks up his chair and runs with it to the door.

The men notice us and step into our path to freedom. "Well, well, and just what do we have here?" Asks one. "Who cares?" Asks the other. "We need to rid ourselves of these... pests." He smiles, revealing a mouth full of missing and black teeth.

The two men come at us with their arms out and ready to grab us. I act on instinct and dive head first between his legs. As I slide across the slick floor I manage to turn myself onto my back and use the momentum from the slide to kick the man in the crotch.

I watch as his neck and face drain of all color and he quickly covers his 'spot' and drops to his knees. Several second later he drops to the floor, unconscious. I grimance at the unfairness of the poor guys situation but shrug it off then I hear a grunt of pain.

I glance over to see Ran sitting comfortably on the chair that is holding the other man securly to the floor. Ran shakes his head and he is slightly pale. "Remind me to never, ever make you mad."

I smile. Eveerything around us starts to blur togther and I let out a groan. "Please don't make me do another dream sequence."

A kind voice laughs. "No dear, there are only three." I quickly realize that my eyes are closed and open them to find the source of the voice. A large bug sits comfortably in front of us. It looks like a firefly but its backend is shaped like a lightning bolt.

I laugh. "Oh! I get it. I thought you were just going to be a firefly, but your... uhm... butt is shaped like an actual lightning bolt so are are a lightning bug."

The bug laughs softly. "Yes dear. Here I controll the weather so the bolt makes sense don't you think?" "Oh yes." I tell her happily. "But not all bugs make sense. There is a bug that looks like a bee and seems to have a lobster tail so I called it a lobee, for LObster and BEE. When I told my dad he laughed and said it was actually called a hummingbird moth but it doesn't look like a hummingbird or a moth."

Ran facepalms and the bug laughs.

Finally the laughter dies away and the bug becomes serious. "I suppose you would like to know why I gave you these 'dreams?'" I nod my head and Ran rolls his eyes.

"These dreams are representations." Says the bug. "Representations of what?" Asks Ran. The bug turns to him. "In your first dream you relived the last moments before the death of your mother. Do you remember what hapened?"

I hear Ran take a shuddering breath and I grab his hand. He shoots me a greatful look. "Right before she died she smiled and told me to live on." The bug nods. "And do you know why she did this?" Ran shakes his head.

The bug seems to be disappointed. "Lets move on to your next dream and I will explain them both to you. What happened in your second dream?" "It was similar but instead I was with Jade and she gave her life for mine."

"Did you learn anything from this dream?" Ran shakes his head. "I didn't pay attention to any lessons when I watched her die." The lightning bug seems to understand this. "The first lesson is of loss and acceptance. Your mother knew that she was going to die but she also knew that you were going to survive. That is why she smiled.

In the second dream the lesson was that of pride. It hurt you to know that she would give her life and there was nothing you could do to stop her. What you didn't think about is the fact that she did exactly what you would do ."

Ran grips my hand tighter and the bug turns to me. "Your first dream is a lesson of courage and quick thinking. When you were led to the shaft for the second time you changed the outcome by facing the situation head on.

Your secend dream is similar to your friends. Your pride and your sorrow played a major role in what happened when you watched Ran die.

The third and final dream was the one that the two of you shared. You both are used to working alone and you do well this way. In this dream you decided to work togther and that is how you suceeded.

If each of you had tried to work alone then Ran would have never gotten out of that chair and Jade would have been captured if she had tried to run away at any given point in time.

By using your differences to work togther, you were were able to work seamlessly as a team." The bug turns back to Ran. "You have helped your friend to aquire the ability to transform and have passed my test. I will give you one ability of your choosing to use whenever you wish. However, I will wait to give you this ability until you need it the most."

Ran squeezes my hand and I look up and easily read the gratitude that crosses his features. "Now you are an interesting case my dear." The bug turns her attention back to me and she smiles... If a giant bug can smile.

"You are the first to pass all of my tests so you are going to be extra special. Although I hear from my brothers and sisters that you are already special. I never thought that the daughter of the Blood Elf and Demon Bard would become one of my children."

Ran and the bug laugh and I can feel my face heat up. "Peace child. As I said you are the first to pass all of my tests so you will not only be able to turn into the animal, but you will also be able to communicate with them."

She reaches forward with one of her legs and picks me up. She draws me closer and touches her head to mine. I see a bright light and a brief but piercing pain runs through my body.

The last thing I am aware of is the bug gently placing me in the soft grass and the soft sounds of Rans and the bugs voices before I allow darkness to surround me.

I can feel myself start to wake up and I begin to wonder what was going on. I can hear soft voices so I calm down somewhat when I realize that they are both familiar. I sit up and wince as I open my eyes and the sunlight hits them.

"Uugh." I groan. "Jade! You're awake!." I rub my temple. "Don't headbut the bug. Trust me, it hurts."

His laughter rings around the inside of my head like a chorus of giant bells. "I'm being serious. You wouldn't believe the headache I have right now."

"Sorry about that." Apologizes a sweet voice. I force my eyes open again and look at the bug. She seems slightly upset at my discomfort but she also seems satisfied. "The reason you have a headache is probably because your body is trying to adjust to your new power."

Curiosity sweeps all of my pain into the furthest corner of my mind as I remember the mention of my new power.

"Can I try it now?" I ask her. "Go for it!" She tells me enthusiastically. I get off the ground and run to the middle of the field. "What should I turn into first?" I ask.

"Whatever you can think of first!" Says Ran. I take his advice and finally find something fun to become. I concentrate on it and after a moment I feel a soft shift in the air around me.

I fly over to Ran and he holds out his hand for me to land on. His eyes grow wide and he stares at me. "I didn't think these actually exsist!" The bug laughs in amusement and I snort.

"I told you the hummingbird moth looks like a lobster bee."

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Sorry I didn't get this out sooned but I was at my gramps all weekend and decided to be lazy for the last four days... and this chapter is shorter than I thought. =(

Thanks to everyone who participated in my post for orange. I know It doesn't really effect us, but it has effected thousands of others that also have or know that someone that has leukemia.

The hummingbird moth is real by the way...


	10. Chapters 17 & 18

We leave the bug and head in a random direction. Ran is humming a soft tune and I smile at his happiness.

A loud noise startles me back into reality. Ran looks at me for a moment and I nod. We run togther through the trees. We come across a battle with two players and what looks like a giant snake boss.

The players are losing. Ran and I don't hesitate, we just leap in. Ran takes out two knives and attacks first. They don't penetrate the snakes skin very far and the skatches seem to make the large serpent even more mad.

I try to think of an animal that would be bigger than the snake and still be able to defeat it. I come up with an idea but the logical part of my brain is screaming that a mythological creature won't work.

I shake the feeling and sit on the ground so that I can concentrate. I picture the creature in my mind and wait. I can hear the battle around me as Ran and the players buy me time. Nothing happens and I begin to panic. I hear an unfamiliar grunt of pain as one of the players is thrown to the unforgiving ground by the snake.

I force down the feeling and redouble my efforts. After a handful of seconds of waiting and uncomfortable prickling feeling covers my body. I keep my eyes shut and the feeling intesifies. A new stretching feeling joins the prickling.

When both feelings stop I open my eyes. The once huge snake now looks much smaller copared to before. I bare my fangs at the snake and it hisses while eyeing me warily.

I hear the sound of skin meeting skin and I glance down to see Ran with his hand in his forehead. "Of all the thinks to turn into you choose to befome a giant nine tailed fox?"

I grin. It wasn't my fault that Naruto was the first thing that had come to my mind when I saw a giant snake.

The snake lunges at me. I use one of my paws to swipe at it and manage to catch it's nose with my razor sharp claws. It hisses in rage and coils itself so that it can spring again. A strange grating feeling rippls its way through my throat. When I hear the growl I know it must be mine. I briefly wonder if that means I can purr too before I drag my mind back the the fight.

The snake springs again but this time I jump instead of trying to take another swipe at it. My now heavy body lands in it's back and head, effectivly pinning it to the ground. I turn and sink my teeth into the flesh behind the sakes skull.

It goes limp and so I release it. It disinigrates and in it's place are four glass vials. I sniff them at sneeze as a sharp and almst painful smell hits my sensitive nose. The two players sit heavily on the ground and start drinking healing potions. Ran looks up at me. "At least I know you've been keeping up on your reading."

I smirk and release the hold I have of my power. The feelings from earlier happen in reverse. I squeeze my eyes shut and begin praying that I wouldn't have to worry abut a lack of clothing due to my transformation.

I open my eyes and quickly scan my body. I release a breath of relief when I still have proper clothing on. "So." Says one of the players eyeing the vials with open curiosity. "What do you think is in these?"

I remember the strange smell and answer with certainty. "It's got to be poison. It burned when I smelled it earlier." I finally get a good look at the two. They look exactly the same. I feel my eyebrows draw togther in confusion. "I thought no two players could look exatly the same?"

The one on my left grins. "We were the first two to log on at exatly the same time so we demanded to bee able to make identical characters." The one on the right matches the first ones grin. "We also may have used a tiny threat to get them to comply. Nothing big though. We only... sugested that we could hack into the system and create our own characters."

Ran frowns and A large smile stretches my cheeks. "Do you want to join us?" Ran sighs and rubs his forehead. "How did I know THAT was coming?" The three of us turn to him and smile innocently. He rolls his eyes. "I don't trust any of you as far as I can throw you."

Fake tears come to my eyes. "I just wanted to make some new friends. These guys are awesome!" I see them nod out of the corner on my eyes and I see a single tear droplet fall from each of their chins. I keep the smile off of my face. I hug them as they hug me. We weep together. Rans lip quivers. "Fine!" He says, highly annoyed. "Let the random people join without asking questions!"

We high five. "Thanks Ran!" I yell. I throw my arms around him in a hug. Someone clears their throat. I look up and see my dad and mom standing in the woods. Dad glares at Rans back and I feel him shiver. I let go of him and he turns around. "Uhm... Hi?"

"Hi." says dad pleasantly. "What's going on?" I see Ran gulp. "N-nothing. We were just g-gathering a team." Mom smacks dad on the back of his head. "Don't scare the boy, you idiot. I can still beat you." Dad cringes. "Y-yes dear."

The twins and I laugh and Ran cringes. This makes us laugh harder.

Mom looks up after scolding dad. "Hi boys!" She says pleasantly. "Hi Aunt Lan!" They chorus. I grow confused. "Did Aunt Loli have an affair and not tell Uncle Ming?" Mom laughs and dad grumbles something that sounds a lot like 'probably'.

"Of course not! These two are Wolf and Yu Lians children! You haven't seen them in a while because the last time the three of you were together Neo and Laica convinced you to flush your fathers mid-term exams down the toilet. He had to make his students color some of your coloring pages for a grade. I wish we had that exam." She says sending a pout in dads direction.

He rolls his eyes. "That was a one time thing only. Don't forget that the time they almost burned down Dolls castle. Yu Lian was furious! She went on a three-hour long rant about how much money it was going to cost her to get it repaired."

Dad turns his attention to the boys. "So what have you two been up to?" Both boys smile. "We're into computers." I hear Ran snort. "That's an understatement." I glance back and forth between my cousins. "So who is who?" "I'm Laica, and he is Neo. I think." They share a look. "Yup, we definitely have it right."

"How do you not know which one you are?" The boys seem to deflate a little bit. "Since we're identical, people call us by both names. We're going by the one that we're called more than half the time." "Why not change something then?" I ask. "'Cause that would defile our evil plan." They smile. I see Ran shudder and I hear him murmur quietly. "What have I gotten myself into?"

I smirk at him. "A whole heap of fun." He shudders again. Dad looks at mom. Loli just PMed me. She said to meet them in the city to catch up before we have to get back to work." "Ok." Says mom. She looks at the four of us and smiles. "Have fun kids! Oh that reminds me!" She takes something out of her pouch and flips it to me. "This is for you. Enjoy!" A man on a carpet with long hair comes down from the sky. My parents leap onto the carpet and take off.

I look down at the thing in my arms. "What is it?" Asks one of the twins. "It's an egg. Says Ran. "But why would my mom give me an egg?" I ask. All three boys turn to look at me like I'm crazy. "What?" I ask defensively. "It's probably a pet egg. Your parents do have famous married pets and the game rules say that the can have children. I'm willing to bet that this is the child of Meatbun and Firepheonix." Explains Ran.

I turn up my chin. "I knew that." I lie. "Yeah, okay, whatever." He responds in a disbelieving tone. "How long does it take to hatch?" I ask peering at the egg. "We've got this one." Say the twins. One of them grabs me and the other hands the egg to Ran. He one that handed off the egg pulls out a small knife and pricks my thumb. "What the heck was that for?" I scream at them. None of them answer.

Ran puts the egg under my bleeding thumb and catches some of the blood. The twin releases me and Ran places the egg in my hand. The egg is visibly warmer. Suddenly it bursts open revealing a soft white shape. It slowly unfurl itself in my arms and then opens its cobalt eyes. "Call me crazy." I say quietly. "But I don't think the child of Meatbun and Firepheonix is an albino tiger."

Ran facepalms. "If you keep doing that you are going to slowly lose all of your existing brain cells." I tease him. "Unlike you I have a few to spare!" He fires back at me. "Hey! I'll have you know that my IQ is as great as my dads!" It yell angrily. "Says the girl that throws a stick in the air to find west!" He shouts back. Angry tears prick at my eyes. "Well I'm sorry if I can't be perfect!" I hold my new tiger cub close to me and morph into a larger kind of it's species. Then I hold my kit safely in my jaws and run.

I keep running. My tears block my vision and I barley manage to dodge trees, but I refuse to stop or let them fall. I know I've overreacted but I don't stop. What I said earlier about having an IQ as high as my dads is true. The only reason I'm not already going to a University is because I don't know what I want to do yet.

I finally stop and lay down on some grass. I pant heavily to pull oxygen into my lungs. The cub walks over to me and lays between my front paws. It then yawns and closes its eyes. 'I need to give you a name.' I think sleepily. 'Nala. I'll call you Nala." Feeling content I slip into a fitful sleep.

~Rans POV~

I watch as Jade runs away. I knew she was teasing me but I exploded anyway. I had been held back for two years and school is a bit of a touchy subject. Then she has said something about having a high IQ but she doesn't ever show an intelligent side. Just a fun loving and easy going side.

"Dude." Says one twin. "That was harsh." Finishes the other. "Well It's not my fault." I defend. "She's the one that acts foolishly and then claims to be smart." They both frown. "Our cousin is smart. Haven't you ever noticed that the only classes you share with her are the advanced ones you are taking?" My own frown deepens. "Well yes, but how did you know that?" They shrug. "We grew up with our dear cousin and decided to keep an eye on her after we moved." "And naturally we were curious about her academics as well so we made sure to keep an eye on her grades as well." They explain. "She is currently involved in all advanced classes and has very good grades in all of them."

I start to feel horrible. "Then why hasn't she already graduated?" I ask. "She can't seem to decide on what she wants to do yet. We think she should just join a band. Her voice is as good or better than aunt Lans is." I knead my forehead with my fingers. "I just messed up big time didn't I?" "Oh yeah." Says one. "Definitely." Agrees the other. I groan. "Can't you two at least put on nametags so I can tell you apart?" The boys grin. "Nope!"

~Jades POV~

I yawn and open my eyes. Nala looks up at me with an adorable look on her face. I stretch and stand. "Well look what we have here." I turn my head and glare at the owner of the voice. Laughter draws my eyes to his companion and a growl ripples up my throat. I stand protectively over Nala and send a quick PM to Ran.

_Please find me quick! Your father and brother are here!_

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Sorry for the delay! Recently I have had another story on my mind and wanted to get it written before I forgot about it. It also doesn't help that I keep reading fanfics instead of writing my own...


	11. Chapters 19 & 20

The return message fast. _That's not a funny joke, Jade._ Lee seems to smirk as terror grips at me for the first time in my life. "What's wrong? I heard your little fight, and I just wanted to apologize for my sons behavior. He was so mean to say that without knowing your whole story." A growl ripples its way out of my throat.

"Now, now. Shouldn't we be civil to each other? You are practically dating my precious eldest son. It's such a pity that he won't come to help you." I crouch close to the ground. _Ran! I'm not joking, I really need your help!_ Lee laughs cruelly. "Is da wittle tikky scayed?" He taunts. Hong li smirks. I morph back into myself, with Nala tucked securely into my arms.

"I'm not a 'wittle tikky' and why would I be scared? You seem like a great father. You must really miss your wife though. Did you know the police talked to us about her? Apparently they found proof that you are guilty for her death and are going to be punished for that as well as the attempted murder of your 'precious eldest son'." I say angrily.

Hong Li recoils as if I had just physically struck him. "W- what?" He asks. "didn't you know?" I ask, truly surprised. "Your father murdered you mother and attempted to do the same to your brother." I tell him sympathetically. He just stares at me. "It's true." I tell him. "He tried to hurt my parents too, and almost succeeded just because he was jealous of my mom and how famous she had become."

I can see his eyes glaze over as he thinks about my words. Suddenly they clear. "Your mom is Prince right?" He whispers. I nod. "He talks about her all the time. All of you guys." This is something I had expected, but it still scares me. "If he is mad enough to kill my parents, what would stop him from killing your mom? What would stop him from killing you?"

Hong Li glances between his father and me. _I'm coming, hold on._ The PM startles me and I jump. _Wait. I want to talk to your brother._ I tell Ran quickly. _Are you crazy? You are alone and outnumbered. I don't care if it is my family, that would be bad in any situation! _He says back. _Oh for goodness sake, just get here and wait where you can't be seen. This is in game so the worst that can happen is that I'll end up at the rebirth point. _I tell him, beginning to feel very frustrated.

_Fine._ He agrees quickly. I roll my eyes. Leave it to Ran to forget that we are playing a game. I refocus on Hong Li and Lee just in time to see Lees hand make contact with Hong Lis' face. He falls to his knees and looks up at his father with a striken look as one hand gently holds his cheek. "That is for questioning me just because some little girl is spouting lies." I morph quickly into the fastest animal I can think of. A cheetah.

I feel Nala grip onto my neck and hold tightly as I begin to run. I briefly see Lees' surprised expression as I run past him to Hong Li. I slow down just enough to grab his clothes in my mouth and swing him up onto my back with Nala. Lee begins shouting as I run with his son clinging desperately on my back.

An arrow whizzes past my head and inbeds itself into a tree in front of me. I can't do anything but watch as it explodes, sending the three of us flying to the forest floor. I hear the system tell me that my HP has dropped but I ignore it in favor of the pain shooting through my body.

Lee catches up and glares down at me. "You are as troublesome as your mother was." He spits out at me. I look up at him, the pain making it hard to do much else. Suddenly he grins. "But now I can still have my revenge." _Ran, now is a good time to make a heroic appearance! _I say quickly. _We're almost there, just hold him off for a little while more_. He tells me. I groan.

He takes a step closer. I struggle to my feet and stand in front of Hong Li and Nala who are lying close by on the ground. I eye the bow Lee is now holding in one hand. He laughs and waves it teasingly from side to side. "This is the best bow money can buy in second life. Even if you run it will catch up to you." A plan marches through my mind. He takes another step and pats my head like adults would to little kids. 'Now!' I think.

I morph into a kangaroo and sit on my tail to use my powerful legs to kick him away. Then I turn myself into a large snake and wind myself around his body to hold him in place. Ran arrives with Laica and quickly take in the situation and check on Nala and Hong Li. Next they come over to the two of us. "Well, you've gotten in yourself into a bind." Says Neo to Lee. The twins laugh at the pun.

**Due to an outside disturbance, player Lee must log off.** He smirks and disappears, leaving me to fall to the ground in coils. I morph back and start drinking down health potions. "What do you think the 'outside disturbance' was?" Asks Ran. The twins smirk. "Lets just say that we did a little research and found where the Lee guy was staying and then 'tipped off' the cops."

Nala wakes up and walks drunkenly over to me, before she collapses into my arms. I check her over for any injuries before I settle her into my lap. Ran stands above me with a small frown. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, I didn't know." I stand up and take his hands into mine. "I'm sorry too. I overreacted." We both smile.

Laica and Neo are off to the side, hugging each other. "They grow up so fast!" Sobs Laica. "I Know!" Agrees Neo. My smile turns slightly evil. "Nala, attack." The kit jumps out of my grip and lands squarely on Neos shoulder. She bites him on the nose and doesn't let go until Laica gets close enough that she can switch targets and latches firmly onto Laicas ear.

Laica starts running around in circles while Neo laughs, even as a bruise develops across his nose. The kit lets go and jumps onto Ran and licks his cheek. Both boys glare at him. "Why does he get licked and we get bitten?" Asks Laica. I look at him. "Would you rather be licked?" I ask. They both cross their arms and nod yes. I shrug and tell them to close their eyes before I turn into something that will give them a 'nice, friendly' lick.

Ran covers his mouth in attempt to stifle his laughter. I lick each of my cousins quickly on the cheek and watch as they open their eyes and wipe off the gooey saliva. "Gross, Cuz! You didn't have to turn into a camel!" Yells Neo. I shift into a llama and calmly spit on his shirt. He looks down at the watery mess. "On second thought, I would rather have you as a human again. You have less slobber that way."

I shift back and smirk. "What can I say, you two are just SO drool worthy." The twins grimace but Ran and I laugh. Hong Li sits up and starts drinking his own potions, before he starts to nervously fidget. "Hong Li?" I ask. He looks up at me with guilty eyes. "Your father is going to prison, and we need another teammate. Do you want to join?" "What?" He asks at the same time Ran does. I just shrug my shoulders. "Why not? He shouldn't be blamed because of his fathers sins. Neither of you should."

"Fine." Says Ran. "But if he does one thing wrong, he's out." "So are you in?" I ask as I offer my hand to him. "I'm in." He says quietly. He takes my hand and I help him to his feet. "Welcome to the club!" I say.

"We need to train together." Says Ran. I roll my eyes. "And here I thought we could just go sign up for the next tournament and win without knowing everyone elses skills." I tell him sarcastically. "Well I didn't hear you say anything." He argues. "That's because we already know that we are going to need to train!" I yell.

"Do they always argue like a married couple?" I hear Hong Li ask. "No!" Ran and I yell together while the twins both say "Yes." I facepalm. "What are everyones abilities?" Neo raises his hand and waves it around. "I'm a mage and Laica is a priest." "I didn't see that one coming." Says Hong Li. I shake my head. "Neither did I."

"I'm a warrior but I keep my speed, agility, and stealth high so I can also be classified as a thief." Ran snorts. "That I did see coming." Hong Li sticks out his tongue in a childish manner. I laugh at them and decide to state my ability before the brothers decide to fight. "I'm a transformer." I tell them. Hong Li looks at me questioningly. "Really? That's what your class is called? Why not call yourself a shape shifter?"

"Lady Bug calls all of her children transformers." "Exactly." I agree. "So put that in your juice box and suck it." My newly formed team looks at me like they think I've lost my mind. "What?" I ask them. "Exactly what? You never answered the question. You just said exactly." Says Ran. I frown. "But I thought you explained that Lady Bug calls all of her children transformers?"

"No, that was me." Says a quiet voice. "Nala?" The small tiger gives me a mischievous grin. "Of course!" She says. "That Is so cool!" I yell. "I totally forgot Lady Bug said I could talk to you!" I hear Ran laughing behind me. "What's up with you?" I ask him. "You just called the lightning bug, Lady Bug so it sounds like you are calling her a lady bug." He laughs some more.

"Was he dropped on his head as a child?" I ask Hong Li. He shrugs his shoulders. "Probably." Ran stops laughing. "I was not!" Hong Li raises an eyebrow. "Do you have proof? I'm pretty sure there's a flat spot on your head that could be from being dropped onto your had." Ran frowns. "I inherited that from Grampa, and you know it!" argues. "Maybe he was dropped on his head too?" Asks Neo.

"Ok guys!" I say to break up the playful argument. "Ran, what class are you?" I ask. Ran looks embarrassed and mumbles something under his breath. "What?" I ask him. "I said I don't have a class yet." He says. Hong Li starts laughing. "You mean that you forgot to turn in the darts from the poison dart frogs? That's classic. You spent all of that time collecting the darts and then you forget to turn them in? Aren't you guys all at ,like, level forty?" He asks.

"Fifty-five." Says Ran. "How did you level so much without having a class?" Asks Laica. Ran pulls out a sling shot and some marble looking things. 'How did I not notice him using that?' I wonder. He holds up one of the marbles. "These changes ability based on their color. Red is fire, dark blue is water, light blue is ice, brown is earth, clear is wind, purple is poison, and black is anything that I can think of."

"That's awesome." Says Neo. I grab Rans hand and start pulling him towards the village. "Where are you pulling me?" He asks. "To the village so you can get a job." I tell him. "Uhm, Jade? The village is in the other direction." I groan and look back at my other teammates. "Maybe one of you should lead."

The walk to the newbie village is uneventful. But as soon as we get there the feathers hit the fan. Four guys and three girls walk over to us, and I immediately recognize them as some of our classmates. "Hong Li, what are you doing with the loser, the pipsqueak, and the nerd duo? I thought we were going to form a team t take them down." I look at Ran who is glaring at the seven with unconcealed dislike.

"Do you want the loser and pipsqueak or the nerd duo?" Ran doesn't take his eyes off the the people in front of us but the twins catch on to my plan. "You guys definitely have the nerd duo." Says Laica. "Then who gets pipsqueak and loser?" I ask them. Hong Li catches on too. "I have a coin. We can flip it to see who gets who." "But who gets who if it lands in the side?" I ask. Hong Li shrugs. "Whoever gets to them first."

"That seems fair enough" I agree. "Are we going to loose publicity for this?" I ask. The twins smirk. "Most likely." The chorus. Hong Li pulls out a coin. "As soon as it touches the ground." I nod. He places it on his fingers and uses his thumb to send the coin flipping through the air. As soon as it lands we each attack our chosen opponents.

Ran looks stunned for a moment before a wild glint appears in his eye and he joins us. Nala helps the others by biting the other peoples ankles, distracting them. I morph into a large tarantula and launch myself onto one of the guys shoulders. A satisfied feeling sweeps through my body when he releases a very feminine shriek and faints.

Two others look over and spot me. They both run, but a third stops her tracks and stares at me wide eyed as if rooted to the spot by web that I can probably make now. 'I wonder if I can still talk like this...' I smirk. "Boo." I say while raising my first set of legs in an intimidating way. She screams exactly three times before she turns around and runs away.

The last two follow soon after. "You guys are crazy!" Yells one of them over their shoulder as they 'retreat'. I frown. The gesture seems foreign in this body but I ignore it and turn back to my team. "That was fun! And because they all, uhm, retreated? We didn't lose any points." The four males look down at me with odd expressions on their faces. "What?" I ask them.

"Are you trying to help them by saying they retreated?" Asks Hong Li. I shrug. "They'll never admit to running away anyhow." I tell him. I morph back into myself and pick up Nala. Now lets go get Ran officially classified!" Hong Li coughs. "Why not just call him your husband and leave it at that?" He asks. I smile at him. He shivers. "Because I love you so much more!" I say while I latch onto his arm. "Your just sssooo much cuter than your brother." I say. A couple people begin to notice me and keep glancing in our direction. Hong Li starts to turn a light shade of red when he notices the attention. I kiss him quickly on the cheek and then walk calmly back over to Ran. "Revenge is so sweet." I say out loud. He shudders. "Death by embarrassment." He mutters. I wink at him. "Oh good, so its a date."

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

So the reason this chapter is so late is because SakuraKoi took my family(Not really, It's just a joke) hostage after I stole Aizen (from Bleach(Yeah, I'm that good)). Then Gen(Also from Bleach) and I teamed up but SakuraKoi overheard our plans to rescue my family(still a joke). Then Gen was dragged away by an angry Rangiku(ALSO from Bleach(I'm not sure if I spelled her name right)) and SakuraKoi said I was under one of Aizens (still that good) allusions so I won (I'm not sure how, but it sounds good to me) and here is chapter 19!

IT'S ALL HER FAULT!

Comments?

-I HATE spiders. Eaugh. DX. I'd probably be the one that fainted... Or the one the froze. Maybe both... Hm...


	12. Chapter 21

I wake up and put my headset on my nightstand. Mom pokes her head into my room. "You better hurry or you're going to be late for school." She closes the door and I quickly go through my morning routine.

Once dresses and ready to go I walk into the kitchen and sit at my place at the table, before I begin eating. Ran and dad walk into the room moments later, laughing about something between the two of them. Mom and I share a look and she just shrugs. I roll my eyes and finish eating.

Ran finishes soon after and the two of us walk together to the bus stop. The ride to school is quiet and has a slightly foreboding feel. Like the silence before the storm. I shiver, but get off the bus anyway. As soon as we arrive Hong Li comes running towards us. He looks worried, which only adds to my anxiety.

"What's up?" Asks Ran. Hong Li looks at my feet as if afraid to look me in the eyes. "We might have ,sort of, possibly made our first enemies." He says. I look at him for a moment. Then I laugh. "You were worried about that?" I ask him. He nods but keeps his gaze trained on my feet. The action is so unlike him that it begins to worry me. Then it clicks.

I snicker. "So your ex best friends hate you now, huh?" His gaze meets mine and I can see the surprise in them. "Yes." He mumbles quietly, and looks away again. "I'm sorry." I tell him. "You don't have to be a part of our team if you don't want to be. You can go back to your friends if you want."

He bites his bottom lip. "I want to stay with you guys... I actually have fun with you." He admits quietly. I smile. "It's good to have you aboard!" He smiles, and it reaches his eyes. The sight warms my heart. together, the three of us walk into the school. We receive a lot of weird looks, but totally ignore them as we make plans for in-game later tonight.

A few of the teachers even look surprised as the three of us walk into the classroom together. Hong Li even waves to the home room teacher when she enters. She just stares at him for a couple moments before nodding back and walking to her seat. I snicker. "I bet the whole school thinks the world is going to end because you are actually nice now."

Hong Li glares at me. I roll my eyes, and the smile never leaves my face. "Welcome to the dark side of the sun." I tell him. He gives me a strange look. "There is no dark side of the sun." He says. I wink at him. "exactly." Ran laughs and the teacher calls the class into session.

The entire day stays normal and by the end of the day the three of us are all relaxed and excited for the plans we have. Seven students gather and approach us slowly. When Ran notices he nudges Hong Li with his elbow. "Looks like your fan club is here." He blanches. "I'm sorry." He tells us. I just shrug. "We knew it was going to happen eventually." I say truthfully.

They stop in front of us and smirk arrogantly. "So, Hong Li, you joined the geek squad." Says Han, the leader." Hong Li shrugs. I glare at the other boy. He notices and grabs my chin in his hand. "If I were you, I would keep your opinion to myself." He says. I stick my tongue out at him. "Then It's a good thing you are not me, isn't it?" He grips my chin harder and small tears come to my eyes.

Two more hands come into my view. Hong Li and Ran are both gripping harshly onto his arm. "Let go of my sister." Says Hong Li at the same time Ran says "Let go of my girlfriend." Han glares at the three of us before he releases me. The brothers let go of his arm and I'm slightly startled to see the indents of where their nails dug into his skin.

Han looks at his arm with open fury. "We challenge you to a tournament duel. As I'm sure even you outcasts know, we are considered the best in this school. When you lose, you will become our personal maids every time you set foot inside the game." He says. His voice borders on calm and rage. I wink flirtatiously at him. "It's a date." I say with a giggle. The anger grows.

I school my features into a serious mask. "But when we win, you have to pretend to be nice and write an apology to each and every person in this school. Every staff member and student will receive and apology for your bullying and the students parents will also receive a letter." I look around the group. "All of you have to do this." They all glare at me with the utmost dislike and the smallest hint of fear. "It's a deal." Says Han. He and the others stalk away without looking back.

When they disappear from view I sink to the ground in relief. The brothers look down at me with confusion, concern, and awe. I smile nervously and scratch the back of my head. "That was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life." I admit. "I thought he was going to make meatbuns out of me."

The boys share a look and laugh. I glare at the two of them. "It's not funny!" I tell them, but they only laugh harder. A sudden thought pops into my head. "So I'm your sister and your girlfriend?" I say looking at first Hong Li and then at Ran. The boys immediately stop laughing and their faces turn red. I roll my eyes and grab both their hands. "Come on, lets go to the park to do homework." They follow silently after me but it's comfortable and calming, rather than awkward. A random thought comes to mind, halting me in my tracks. The boys look at me with pure confusion. "Don't we have to have a team name to be able to compete?" I ask.

Hong Li closes his eyes. "Oh, sh-

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Sorry for the delay. I really have no excuses soo this chapter is just really, really late and very, very short... Oops.

Also, I'm going to be making a few small changes to the story, so that there are fewer chapters but the same amount of words, so don't panic when chapters begin to disappear.


	13. Chapter 22

-oot. What are we going to call ourselves?" Asks Hong Li. I shrug. "That seems to be the million dollar question." I say.

"Why don't we meet tonight in-game and talk to the twins. They might have a few ideas." Says Ran tiredly. I nod. "Alright. My next question is what are you two going to do next?" I ask looking at both of them.

They give me a strange look. "Next?" They ask together. "Yeah, now that neither one of you are on your fathers favorites list wouldn't it be best to get out of his house?" I ask them. The two of them share a look. "That may not be such a bad idea." Admits Ran. "Should I talk to my dad again?" I ask.

Ran smiles sheepishly. "That would be great. At least until we can buy an apartment of our own." He admits. "Okay, then let's go home boys!" I say happily.

I pull out my phone and send mom a message, telling her what's going on. Then we catch the bus and head towards home. Before we get off mom sends me a reply telling me that everything has been taken care of.

I lead the way a the three of us walk in. Dad immediately glomps onto me. "Honey, why must you bring home so many boys? Why don't they have cooties any more? Where did my baby girl go?" He asks rapid-fire as fake tears build up in his eyes.

Mom walks into the room and knocks him on the head. "Leave our daughter alone, at least she doesn't bring home her teacher. I thought my mom and dad were going to either kill you or faint when you came over for the first time." She tells him.

Dad grimaces and grabs my hand. "Please never, ever bring home your teacher. Two boys at the same time is two too many. Especially since they are living with us. I didn't move in with your mom until after she graduated from the University. Please don't do this to me." He begs.

I laugh and invite the boys in. Hong Li closes the door behind him. "Dad, this is Rans brother, Hong Li." I introduce. Dads jaw drops. "Brothers. Great. I have papers to grade." He says sarcastically.

He walks down the hallway with his shoulders slumped and disappears into the library that also doubles as his study.

"That went well." Says mom happily. "I'll have dinner ready in an hour, why don't you show Hong Li to your room Ran? We'll be getting another bed tomorrow evening so until then one of you will have to make arrangements on the couch. Bao Yu will show you how to divide the room. Lucky for you two when we bought the house the people before us had a big family. They used to use your room for their two youngest and had a divider put in. It should work just fine for the two of you."

The boys smile and thank her. When she leaves I show them how the divider works. "That's cool." Comments Hong Li. Ran nods in agreement. The three of us sit on Rans bed and start discussing names. However, none of them seem to fit.

Dinner is uneventful, but delicious. "Night mom, dad." I say and kiss each of them on the cheek. The brothers also bid my parents goodnight and ten minutes later the three of us are waiting in game for the twins to arrive.

It doesn't take long for my cousins to appear. They smirk. "We, dear friends, have come up with the perfect name for our little group of misfits." They say. We wait for them to continue but they remain silent. "And that would be?" Asks Hong Li as his patience runs out.

Laica picks Nala off the ground. She growls in warning until he scratches her behind the ear. She begins to purr and leans into the touch. Laica smiles. Neo points to the tiger. "What is that?"

"That's a tiger." Deadpans Ran. "Exactly! Now what kind of animal does our cousin seem most like when she's mad?" Asks Neo. "A dragon." Mutters Hong Li after a few moments of hesitation.

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Says Liaca happily. I glare at the three boys. "A dragon?" I ask in a calm voice. Neo throws his arm over my shoulder. "Don't take it personally, you just get really intimidating sometimes."

I sigh. "You're all jerks, you know that?" I ask them. "Sure we do, but we're your jerks therefore you have no choice but to love us dearly." I pout. "That's debatable." I tell them.

Laica hands me Nala. "No it's not. If you didn't like us then you would have roasted our buns a long time ago." He says confidently. I grin. "I can still make that happen if you want."

Neo and Laica blanch and hide behind the brothers. "Such a violent cousin we have." Whispers Laica loudly. Neo nods his head vigorously. "Yes, I can't believe our little cousin would threaten to roast your buns."

Laica gives his twin a funny look. "But she threatened both of us." He argues. "Nuh uh, she was talking to you." Says Neo. "Then why are you hiding?" Asks Laica. "Because we are identical, so she may not know which one is which and attack me by accident!" He answers nervously.

I PM Hong Li and Ran with a message. _When I say dunk, get down as fast as you can._ The boys grin and nod. I reach into my pouch and grab what I'm looking for. "Dunk!" I call out. The brothers drop to the ground quickly leaving the twins wide open for my assault.

I quickly throw the two water balloons with surprising accuracy and they hit their targets in the face. The balloons are filled with die so when they explode, each twin turns a different color.

Laica turns green and Neo turns blue. The brothers scramble away from the dye to avoid getting colored themselves. Then the three of us laugh at the twins who are now very easily distinguishable.

Nala purrs contently in my arms. "Oh, you just wait. We'll get you-" "-My pretty. Any your little tiger too!" Say the twins in turn. I do my best to not show my fear. "Did you guys watch The Wizard of Oz before you signed on?" I ask them.

The boys smile evilly. "Yes, but we don't melt in the water so you will have to find another way to defeat us." Says Neo. "Uh, guys. We're on the same team. If she defeats you or you defeat her, then we are at a major disadvantage for the duel." Points out Ran.

The twins pout. "Dang, we forgot about that." Admits Laica. "Oh well, at least we have a team name now!" Says Hong Li, pulling the twins' attention away from the Dye. "Yeah, Dragons Tiger." I watch as smiles spread across my team mates faces. There's no way we're going to lose in the duel now.

=D =D =D =D =D =D =D

Sorry. ^.^;

I couldn't really think of a name for their team, so I asked SakuraKoi for help. (I give her half the credit for the name.) And I had writers block. (For GAL, my other story is still coming out smoothly.) AND I just got done with finals for school. (I did a LOT better than I though I did.)

So here it is. There is/are probably only going to be one or two more chapters because I have really kind of run out of ideas to keep the story going, and I really don't want you guys to fall asleep because I start repeating the same plot over and over again.

I hope to be able to update again soon,

Kat


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